Tag Archives: running

So, many months ago, my brother discovered that the Eugene Marathon was on his 30th birthday.

(While Baby Brother is most often shown on here I have three brothers, and this is one of my two big brothers)

He decided to sign up for the marathon. And my husband and I decided we might as well sign up for the half. We’d already signed up for Rock ‘n’ Roll Portland so clearly a half three weeks before it was a great choice.

Then my appendix exploded. My surgeon told me I could maybe walk Eugene. But I shouldn’t plan on it.

But I’ve been healing up well and 2 weeks post surgery the doctor cleared me for most physical activity-swimming, elliptical, biking, etc. And I was doing well (no painkillers, decent energy, walking like a human, no oozing wounds) so running would be ok pretty soon.

I started looking at the course map for Eugene. Which took place was about a week before I was cleared to run. They didn’t allow you to sell your bib or defer so I figured even if I couldn’t finish I’d do some of it. I found easy spots to chop of some miles and figured I’d do somewhere between 6-10 miles of walking. I was trying to be all smart about it-I even made myself leave my Asics at home so I wouldn’t be tempted to run.

On race morning I stood in the back with the walkers. And readied myself for a long long race.

But it turns out I can walk really fast? I was expecting to take 20 minutes per mile, which was why I was going to cut some of it off-walking for over 4 hours seemed excessive. And boring. But mile 1 took me under 14 minutes.

And I realized I didn’t like not running. It was perfect running weather. I felt awesome. And I’m fairly sure the ghost of Steve Prefontaine will haunt you if you enter the track on Hayward Field walking.

So I started running for 60-90 seconds at each mile. Which broke up the monotony but hopefully didn’t give me an incisional hernia (I didn’t feel any pain or I would’ve stopped of course. I’m stubborn but I’m not stupid).

It was a nice course-through some neighborhoods with college kids sitting in their yards cheering (my favorite was the guys with a bullhorn who announced “starting to get slower now” as walkers got near followed up by “don’t mind us, we’re douchebags!”- my husband said when he ran by the guys were drinking and announcing “we never went to bed, so don’t think we got up just for this”) then across the river into a park.

Also, walking a race meant I could text people.

(Judging is wrong. Don’t do it.)

I finished up in 3:04ish, 14:05 pace. PERSONAL WORST! (My husband on the other hand PRed by a good 15 minutes or so)

And then we rehydrated

(2 empty beers, one full water. I prioritize)

and tracked down my brother
Everyone’s a winner!

Only problem?

Know how I’d left my running shoes at home? I was wearing Nike Free TRs. Which are made for working out in, but not running.

And that night my left foot hurt like a mofo.

Went to the doctor and found out I sprained my foot! Gold star for me.

Whoops.

It should be healed just in time for Rock n Roll! I see lots of walk-run combos in my future.

She has apparently been a little too busy playing with dinosaurs to blog…

But that’s totally understandable.

I haven’t blogged on here in like 12 years (but at least im not just writing a post ALL ABOUT ORANGES), and in that time I’ve made some new little friends.

First, I fell in love, I met her on October 14th, and Siri and I fell in love immediately.

Next, I took up biking this summer when I picked up this little friend.

(it’s a 2011 trek 1.5)

I love my lil trek. I can pick it up with 1 finger! And I have the coolest cycling jersey to go with it.

(not obsessed with starbucks at all…)

and I ride my bike EVERY day. Ok, so maybe I haven’t ridden it in like a month cuz im lazy and it’s cold. I have good intentions, but seriously its below freezing out and theres snow. I dont care if I ran a 5k in the freezing cold and snow last year, Im an old man now.

Speaking of running, I havent been doing that. But im going to start again since me and Kalin and her husband are running the rock n roll half marathon in may! I did get new running shoes.

But they are WAY too little for my feet.

And my most exciting news is the addition to my family. I adopted him last, month. He was born in 2007 and weights just 2590 pounds and is 146 inches long.

This is Sheldon* [like Sheldon COOPER from big bang theory] my new car!

He’s just a little car in a big world.

And maybe Kalin will explain what happened to my awesome Jeep I used to have.

And in news unrelated to this post but super awesome, look at this amazing cake my coworked made for our starbucks holiday meeting!

And the whole race felt awesome. Awesome as in, when I looked it up on my garmin after the race we ran mile 8 at an even 10:00.

That’s the sort of pace I normally run a mile or two at. Not what I do when I’ve already busted out 7 miles.

Although, I foolishly use the VIP port-a-potty before the start. So I spent miles 8-10 worried I’d piss myself. I gave up and used a port-a-pottie at an aid station. Pretty sure if I had that minute back I would’ve won the race, right?

We finished in 2:22 and some change, 10:52 pace.

We ate strawberry shortcake

And marveled at how we felt awesome

(We didn’t match on purpose. I’m not sure if it’s more or less lame that we just dressed the same without meaning to.)

I’m a little worried now though-the husband felt so awesome post race that he started saying things about full marathons.

That’s not happening. I have two black toenails from doing a half. I’ll be a hobbit if we do a full.

Then I made pesto
(If you adore fresh basil Trader Joe’s has fantastic potted basil plants for like $3. I buy them every summer, and then revel in my ability to eat the most pesto ever for months on end)

Mixed up the pesto with bowties and tomatoes
And because clearly that isn’t nearly enough to bring, I chopped up some watermelon
Watermelon is delicious. My husband hates it. I’ve tried, I can’t eat an entire watermelon myself. Well, I can, but it’s a poor choice. So I was excited for an excuse to buy one.

And because I love America, themed foods, and sugar, I made these strawberries.

Have a fantastic 4th! When you wake up late enjoying your Monday off tomorrow, think of my 6:45 am start time!

And, sometimes, gives illogical shoutouts to local businesses
We visited this weekend for Daddy’s Day, and after busting out a long run Saturday morning, we, like Sarah, had a spudnut moment
I’ve eaten many a spudnut in my day. But mostly I let other people pick them up for me, so I hadn’t hit up the actual shop in a long time.

Turns out?

This is the sort of store that you’d feature on Fox News.
AMERICA.

The mix of over the top Americana with 50 year old booths and no sense of irony?

I was a run buddy for Girls on the Run. Our practice 5k was in late April, and it was WET. So it’s only fitting that the real one was the hottest day Portland has had so far this year.

(I’m honestly in this pic. I swear. Look towards the middle-see the super long brown hair? Me.)

We did the Starlight run, which goes before the Starlight Parade and follows the parade route. This means you get lots of people cheering for you, which is rad. My girl’s family showed up I think 4 or 5 times along our route screaming for her. Also rad.

We had good intentions of going to watch some of the parade, but running the route it was super crowded. And running 13 miles meant I needed a beer
I left the race bib on because I figured it made it look like there was at least a vague reason I was in a bar looking a sweaty mess in my running shorts.

After my beer I was still hungry, so we went to Hot Lips
And because I’m part hungry caterpillar, I was STILL hungry. So we went to Plaid Pantry
I eat a balanced diet.

I realized too late if you run 10 miles*, a normal lunch isn’t going to cut it and you will end up ordering nachos the size of a small child for dinner

Plus a burger that I’m fairly sure used about half a cow. And bacon, just for good measure.

And a salad. Because between the running and the salad you can totally justify the rest of your meal.

And I realized no matter how many baby-sized plates of nachos you eat, when you get home you still need dessert
It happens.

I also realized that helping in my community is awesome. Mostly because my weekend volunteering at Springfest in my ‘hood resulted in this
Free beer. In a parking lot. On a Sunday evening.

I heart community service.

I also realized that when I drink my small-town roots show and I want to make fires.

And if I’ve been drinking I may also want to make s’mores. True story: if you have no chocolate bars, no marshmallows, and no graham crackers your s’mores dreams don’t have to die. You just end up doing this
Those are charred peeps. With the ear of a chocolate bunny shoved in them.

It happens.

And when you’re drunkenly eating molten peeps I’ve realized if you have a loving husband like mine he’ll laugh, tell you that you look homeless, and then take pictures.

Thanks baby.

And most importantly I’ve realized I’ve got less than a week till my husband’s birthday. And since my birthday comes a week after that, I need to get him some killer presents to insure I get awesome ones. So it’s shopping time!

Happy Monday friends!

*Um yeah, I ran 10 miles. Madness. I get pissy if I have to drive 10 miles normally.